


A Calling

by BeatriceOverWall



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Almost Everyone - Freeform, Angst, Answers to questions such as why Rachel was sleeping with rando drug dealer guy, Awkwardness, Being Flustered, Blushing, Chloe Actually Cares That Rewinding Hurts Max, Danger, David is a bad person noone can change my mind, Everyone Loves Max, F/F, Fix It, Fluff, Intrigue, Jealousy, Kissing, Max's parents probably at least call in this, May stray from canon. Alot, Mystery, Obliviousness, Rachel being less perfect because seriously who is that great really?, Romance, Swearing, Time Travel, Turning saints into blah blah blah, Usage of the word Hella, cinnamon roll Max, lovestruck Chloe, magic i guess, powers, where are they bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24118354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeatriceOverWall/pseuds/BeatriceOverWall
Summary: Max and Chloe decide to time-travel to save the oh so perfect Rachel Amber. Max should be more pleased about this. More people are going missing and it's up to the partners in time to save the day; preferably before Chloe dies for the millionth time. Max feels like something is calling her and keeps seeing the deer spirit in the woods...guiding her to something. If only she could concentrate on anything other than Chloe for even a second. And why does Rachel keep staring at her like that? Let's see if the mystery can hold Max's attention for long enough to solve it, if she's not too busy unravelling the mysteries of loveeeee
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price, POSSIBLY - Relationship, Rachel Amber/Chloe Price, Rachel Amber/Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	A Calling

They lay together, side by side on top of Chloe's unmade bed. Max pretended not to notice the way their arms touched lightly every so often, pretended not to notice the way her stomach grew warm at the contact. Chloe's music was turned up to the highest volume, making the house feel like it was shaking with each riff of guitar. Max prayed David wouldn't fly into one of his customary rages and come up to disrupt them; this was the most relaxed she had felt in some time. With the visions of the town being destroyed and the mystery behind Rachel's disappearance, she had been on edge all week. She didn't know if it was simply the act of being with Chloe or the fact that she could be getting some kind of proximity high from whatever Chloe was smoking, but at that exact moment in time she couldn't imagine herself ever wanting to be anywhere else. That's where she and Chloe differed. While Chloe would do just about anything to get out of Arcadia Bay, Max didn't actually have any problems with it. Sure, there were crazy guys in bathrooms with guns, and missing people and bullies, but, privately, Max was pretty sure she could handle all that if it meant being with Chloe. Her face flushed at the admittance, and she turned away so Chloe couldn't see and make fun of her. As a friend! Completely platonically! Of course she'd want to be with her best friend in the whole world! While Max was going through this inward panic, she felt a sharp poke to her back, making her swivel around to be face to face with Chloe. And their faces were so close..."What'cha thinkin' about Magic Max?" Max could feel the warmth of Chloe's breath on her cheek, and wondered how much courage it would take on her part to close the distance between them. She gulped at the thought. Way too much! "Max? You alright over here? You look hella spaced out." Chloe was talking to her! What had she asked her? Oh God Max had been too zoned out and Chloe was looking at her with that raised eyebrow that always made her seem as though she could look into her very soul. At times like these, Max went for her failsafe, the right answer in any occasion. "Your mom." Chloe's nefarious eyebrow raised even higher as she laughed. Max felt herself relax again as she smiled over at her friend. "Hey Max, do you wanna see this thing I found? It was Rachel's-" Max fought the urge to sigh. She knew she wasn't being fair, but couldn't she go, like, five minutes without being compared to Perfect Rachel? Every time Chloe brought her up it reminded Max of what a bad friend she had been, of how she had let Chloe down for so long...It didn't help that Chloe was so obviously crushing on her much cooler friend. Max didn't have a chance...Not that she wanted one, seeing as her and Chloe were the best of friends and nothing more and of course she didn't stay up all night thinking about her or sometimes make entire songs on her guitar that were just different ways of saying her name...It wasn't as if she did any of that. "It reminded me of you." Chloe finished, and of Max's complaints flew out of her brain at once. "Sure, i'll check it out." She managed, feeling a little annoyed that all her built-up annoyance had no place to go. But she could never get angry at Chloe, least of all for something like this. Chloe held up her phone; it seemed to be a picture of some artwork. Max felt her brain short circuit when she saw what it was of. How could she have-? "Yeah, I thought it was crazy too. Isn't that the deer you said you saw at the dump?" Max nodded, unable to speak as she took Chloe's phone out of her hands. It was a pencil drawing of the deer; highlighted in blue and everything. It was uncannily similar. Max checked the date it had been taken. "A week before she disappeared?" Max looked wide eyed over at Chloe, who nodded gravely. How was that even possible? What was it supposed to mean? "It's obviously some kind of sign- maybe left for us by Rachel!" But Max didn't see how it could help them, and, by the looks of it, neither did Chloe. "Does that mean she knew something was going to happen to her? No-no, she would have told me!" Chloe's voice went high with fear, and Max didn't think before clasping her hands towards her. "If she did know...she would have had a good excuse not to tell you, right?" Chloe didn't answer, her eyes downturned with such sorrow that Max would've done anything to wipe the look off of her face. "She was probably trying to protect you from whatever she was dealing with. She cared about you a lot." Max felt a sense of wrongness in talking about Rachel like she knew her; but something in her soul resonated with the missing girl. It was a weird feeling and she didn't know what it could be. Chloe looked up, eyes suddenly aflame with anger. Not directed at her, thankfully, but at something invisible in the distance. "If she cared about me- about how I felt, she would have told me. I would've taken her out of this shitshow of a town. We- we were supposed to leave together. Why didn't she let me help?" Now she looked down at Max, who was unconsciously stroking her hands as she struggled to find the right words. "Chloe...she would never have left you here. We both know something happened to her, don't we?" Chloe nodded begrudgingly, staring down at their entwined hands. "Anyhow...you do have a tendency to rush into things head first...You could have gotten yourself seriously hurt." Max bit her lip apologetically as Chloe's eyes narrowed. Then the bluette sighed, a mix of smoke, pancakes and whiskey. A familiar scent that shouldn't have made Max's heart beat as fast as it did.

"I know you're right, wonder girl. I just wish I could go back and-" Suddenly there was silence. Both girls eyes met at the same time. As one, their eyes swivelled towards the fallen phone. "Have you ever used a digital photo before?" Chloe whispered, as if speaking too loud would shatter their joint hope. Max shook her head slowly, but knew she had determination in her eyes. "I can definitely try." Slowly, smiles grew on their faces, and Max fought the urge to giggle in euphoria. This could change everything! They could save a life, put a stop to all the strange things happening and...She looked at the grin on Chloe's face. She could make her best friend happy again. Even if it meant losing her to Perfect Rachel. Heaving herself up from the pillows with some difficulty, Max went to reach for the phone, only to blush furiously when she remembered she was still holding Chloe's hand. Chloe, of course, had to notice this immediately. Somehow the temptation to tease Max broke through even her high at finding a way to save her missing crush. "Aw...is wittle Max shy? You're such a nerd, seriously. You've literally kissed me, remember!" The reminder made Max's face grow even redder and she batted Chloe's hands away in embarrassment. "That was a bet and you know it!" And it had also been one of the most awesome moments in Max's life, but that was neither here nor there. "Shaddup, you loved it." Chloe fluttered her eyelashes exaggeratedly. "I'm irresistible." Max snorted, and was yanked back down onto the bed for her trouble by their still joined hands. "Do you question my prowess?" Chloe muttered into her ear. Max could practically feel the smirk on her face. "No-" She struggled to get the words out as she fought half-heartedly to get out of Chloe's embrace. "-but I do question your priorities! I need to get through that picture-" She stilled as Chloe's hands moved to her waist, keeping her from moving away. Max's mind started jumping to a bunch of unhelpful conclusions, but her limbs wouldn't move so much as an inch, frozen by the warm body behind her. "C'mon Max! You know i'm over the fucking moon about this, but who was it a few minutes ago that told me I was the one with a habit of jumping into danger?" Chloe shook her head in exasperation, spikey hair tickling Max's neck. Chloe did have a point; she would be no use to anyone if she went missing in Rachel's stead. Her mind went dizzy trying to figure out the implications of the whole thing; she could create a paradox! If Future Max went back in time to save Rachel, then in the future Rachel wouldn't need saving and Max wouldn't need to travel through time to save her and- "Aargh!" She grumbled, shaking her head to clear the confusion. "Chill out Maxi-Pad-" Max aimed at her blindly with her foot for that one "-Fine, not all of them can be winners. Seriously though, you couldn't travel today anyway, even if I wasn't keeping you hostage with my superior strength." Max kicked out again for that one, growing ever more frustrated when Chloe simply huffed out a laugh. "And why not exactly, Miss almighty Chloe Price?" She drawled, now attempting to reach out for the phone with a free hand. "You know why, Maximillian. You used up all your fancy time powers for the day when you stopped _Victoria_ of all people from faceplanting onto the tarmac." Max winced at the disbelief in her voice. That's right, she remembered now. Her and Chloe were walking through campus (Chloe had insisted on accompanying her on her walk to and from her dorms-apparently Rachel had been in the same class as her when she went missing!) and her impulsive friend had put out a boot to trip up the bratty blonde. "Oh, right. Well, I stand by my decision, Chloe. Victoria may be mean and rude and-" She paused to get her bearings in the conversation again "-regardless, that fall would've hurt her. Plus, you would have probably gotten sued or something. Who knows with rich people..." Suddenly she was being span around to face Chloe again, letting out an indignant squeak in the process. The look on Chloe's face was of fond annoyance. Ever since she had made Max promise to tell her every time she reset she had gotten more and more exasperated with how she was using her "Hella crazy awesome powers!" Like that one time she went back just to make sure Juliet didn't trip. She had gotten alot of mockery for that one, plus a barrage of unwarranted Romeo jokes. Still, she had defended that decision too; from what she had glimpsed in Juliet's room she had deduced that her friend might need a few more people looking out for her.

"What's up?" Max questioned weakly, when the silence stretched out a little too long with Chloe staring into her eyes. "Yep, still a complete dork." Chloe grinned, cheeks faintly red. "You can't look out for everybody all the time; sometimes assholes deserve what they get. Plus," And Max knew just from Chloe's expression what she was going to say. It was a recurring lecture that Max may or may not have been using her powers to skip lately. "-you tire yourself out alot with all this rewind bullshit. Need I remind you that fainting and nosebleeds are only a good thing in anime?" Max didn't understand why Chloe kept bringing this up; you faint once in the middle of the street and suddenly you can't take care of yourself? It was strange to hear Chloe nagging about, well, anything. Usually she was very...well if not calm, at least majorly indifferent to whatever she got up to. She didn't blink an eye when the friend she hadn't seen in years started rummaging through her dresser, and she seemed to take it in her stride when Max had actually told her she had time powers. So why was she so anxious to keep bringing this up? "I get it. Totally. No problem." She even forced a grin to be more convincing. Of course that just made her look all the more suspicious. There was no way she was going to wait until the next day to see if this worked. It would just build up the anticipation and crush Chloe all the more if it failed. And...that wasn't all. Max had a funny feeling, deep down in her chest. Like she would only get this one chance, that tomorrow would be too late. And she hadn't gotten this far without using her gut. It had been gut instinct that had saved Chloe that day in the bathrooms, and Max had a feeling it would now save Rachel too. But back to the moment at hand. Chloe was looking at her with suspicion in her eyes, and Max couldn't have that if what she was about to do was going to work. How could she get out of Chloe's arms and to the phone as quickly as possible? Looking around the room for inspiration, her eyes locked on Chloe's closet and she blushed as the perfect idea came into her mind. That would probably give her just enough time to rewind before Chloe came to her senses. " Max, I don't like that look on your face-" Ignoring the warning in Chloe's tone, Max looked directly into her eyes and moved a little closer. "Really sorry about this." She muttered, before darting forward and capturing Chloe's lips in a deep kiss. The poor Price was too shocked to move, and Max took that as her window of opportunity. She barely noticed the hands coming up to run through her hair before she was tearing herself away from the kiss, blushing furiously as she grabbed the phone. If she had spared a glance over at her incapacitated friend, she would have seen the way she put a hand up to her lips in wonder...Before looking over at Max and seeing what she was about to do.

"You sneaky asshole!" She cried out, a look of awe shining through her eyes. As Max fought hard to concentrate on the photo in front of her and not the feeling of soft, bitten lips under hers, Chloe struggled to get to her feet with her legs feeling weak under her. "Come on, come on, come on, work already!" Max mumbled, panicked, glaring hard at the photo and searching for that familiar headache that always came before a rewind, painfully aware of Chloe stumbling behind her. She was probably so mad; not only was she ignoring everything her friend had said, she'd also just- A feeling of weightlessness warred with guilt in her stomach, and she smiled a secret smile at the photo. Immediately, the headache arrived, this time stronger than ever before. So engrossed was she in concentrating on the photo that Max didn't see Chloe stumbling up behind her as she started to glimmer out of existence. "You're not getting away that easily, Max!"

Just before she vanished into time, Max was distracted by a hand grabbing her shoulder. Turning to look into furious blue eyes, Max had just enough time to wonder what happened to people touching her when she travelled before both girls vanished without so much as a sound. Seconds later, David burst into the room. "Now, I have had it up to here with your insubordination, girl! I can smell the weed from down-" He looked around in confusion. There was nobody in the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Could she have chosen a better way to distract Chloe? Absolutely. Was this just a thinly veiled excuse for her to kiss her again? Yup. Sue me. Also made up a new word in this chapter, try and see what it is!


End file.
